Can Some One Tell Me If This Info Is Correct?

[bubble87]

i am cycling my tank at the moment which is a elite style 35 litre tank with a hagen elite stingray internal filter and a 50watt heater.
im cycling my tank with 3 small prawns which have been left in thereall this time.
i am waiting for my test kit to arrive as i brought it online so i went to pets at home in ashford kent so they can test it for me.

well its been cycling for 2 weeks and the ammonia was at 0 and both the nitrite and nitrate were very high.
so the guy there told me that the filter i have will not be able to cope with the amout of nitrite and nitrate that are in there, so they have told me to take the prawns out and they have given me a bottle of what they called live bacteria and told me to put it all in and stir the gravel up every 2 days. then in 2 weeks time it should have cycled.

is this all correct

also i only wanted 1 male betta in there be he told me it would be best if i have 1 male betta and 5 neon tetras is this true too???

 

[BigIan]

all complete nonsense! the filter will cope happily with the levels, it will just take time to build up the bacteria colony.
the bottle of stuff he sold you is essentially snake oil, and has no beneficial quality's at all. This is because the bacteria in there need many things to keep them alive, oxygen, and food, and correct temperatures. The bacteria do not receive these conditions being shipped around the world and then sat on a shelf in a shop for 6 months.

As for the betta and the neons, it depends on the betta, some like a little company some don`t the bettas i`ve kept didn`t like company but i know some people who can keep bettas in community tanks.

pets at home really are terrible.

 

[bubble87]

so what would anyone recommend i do.
i have taken the prawns out the tank
the ammonia is 0
nirtite 2.0
nitrate is off the colour chart and a rusty colour does this all mean its going well.
i have put the stuff it the shop gave me but where do i go now.
all these test were done using the api water test kit

p.s he didnt sell me the so called bacteria he just gave me some free

 

[BigIan]

your cycle is progressing well,

you need some form of ammonia in there to feed the bacteria and sooner rather than later, or the bacteria you have in there may die off. Where have you put the shrimp?
What i recommend you do is read the thread about fishless cycling, as understanding the nitrogen cycle is the first major step in fish keeping.

 

[Gvilleguy]

If you cannot put shrimp back in there as your ammonia source, then I suppose you'll switch to a fishless cycle, meaning you will need to track down pure ammonia and add it to the tank. The beginners resource center has a good thread on specifically how to handle it.

I agree with Biglan that the LFS steered you wrong.

 

[bubble87]

well i have some more prawns so should i put some more in the tank if so how many?
i cant seem to find anywhere near me that sell ammonia

 

[Sami9999]

well i have some more prawns so should i put some more in the tank if so how many?
i cant seem to find anywhere near me that sell ammonia

If you are in the US I found it at the dollar store.

 

[Twinklecaz]

Do a large water change to get your Nirates down as they may be stopping the Nitrites processing properly and then put 3 prawns back in (though pure Ammonia is preferable). You're not that far off being cycled in my opinion.

Some of these LFS workers should be beaten with big sticks!

 

[bubble87]

i live in the uk
ok i will do that twinklecaz and i will test my water again next sunday and post my results